SECTION OF A MUMMY-CASE FROM ANCON.
[After a cut given by Ruge, following a plate in The Necropolis of Ancon. Wiener (p. 44) gives a section of one of the Ancon tombs. See a cut in Squier’s Peru, p. 73.—Ed.]
The custom prevalent among the Chimus of depositing with their dead all objects of daily use, as well as ornaments and garments worn by them during life, has enabled us to gain a further insight into the social history of this interesting people. The researches of Reuss and Stübel at the necropolis of Ancon, near Lima, have been most important. Numerous garments, interwoven with work of a decorative character, cloths of many colors and complicated patterns, implements used in spinning and sewing, work-baskets of plaited grass, balls of thread, fingerrings, wooden and clay toys, are found with the mummies. The spindles are richly carved and painted, and attached to them are terra cotta cylinders aglow with ornamental colorings which were used as wheels. Fine earthenware vases of varied patterns, and wooden or clay dishes, also occur.
Turning to the language of the coast people, we find that no Mochica dictionary was ever made; but there is a grammar and a short list of words by Carrera, and the Lord’s prayer in Mochica, by Bishop Oré. The grammar was composed by a priest who had settled at Truxillo, near the ruins of the Chimu palace, and who was a great-grandson of one of the first Spanish conquerors. It was published at Lima in 1644. At that time the Mochica language was spoken in the valleys of Truxillo, Chicama, Chocope, Sana, Lambayeque, Chiclayo, Huacabamba, Olmos, and Motupè. When the Mercurio Peruano[1308] was published in 1793, this language is said to have entirely disappeared. Father Carrera tells us that the Mochica was so very difficult that he was the only Spaniard who had ever been able to learn it. The words bear no resemblance whatever to Quichua. Mochica has three different declensions, Quichua only one. Mochica has no transitive verbs, and no exclusive and inclusive plurals, which are among the chief characteristics of Quichua. The Mochica conjugations are formed in quite a different way from those in the Quichua language. The Mochica system of numerals appears to have been very complete. With the language, the people have now almost if not entirely disappeared. Possibly the people of Eten, south of Lambayeque, who still speak a peculiar language, may be descendants of the Chimus.
MUMMY FROM A HUACA AT PISCO.
[After a cut in T. J. Hutchinson’s Two Years in Peru (London, 1873), vol. i. p. 113. The Peruvian mummies are almost invariably simply desiccated. Only the royal personages were embalmed (Markham’s Cieza de Leon, 226). Cf. Wilson’s Prehistoric Man, ii. 135.—Ed.]
The Chimu dominion extended probably from Tumbez, in the extreme north of the Peruvian coast, to Ancon, north of Lima. The Chimus also had a strong colony in the valley of Huarcu, now called Cañete. But the valleys of the Rimac, of Lurin, Chilca, and Mala, north of Cañete; and those of Chincha, Yca, and Nasca, south of Cañete; were not Chimu territory. The names of places in those valleys are all Quichua, as well as the names of their chiefs, as recorded by Garcilasso de la Vega and others. The inhabitants were, therefore, of Inca race, probably colonists from the Huanca nation. Their superstitions as told by Arriaga, and the curious mythological legends recorded by Avila as being believed by the people of Huarochiri and the neighboring coast, all point to an Inca origin. These Inca coast people are said to have had a famous oracle near the present site of Lima, called “Rimac,” or “He who speaks.” But more probably it was merely the name given to the noisy river Rimac, babbling over its stones. It is true that there was a temple on the coast with an oracle, the fame of which had been widely spread. The idol called Pachacamac, or “The world-creator,” was described by the first Spanish visitor, Miguel Estete, as being made of wood and very dirty. The town was then half in ruins, for the worship of this local deity was neglected after the conquest by the Incas. These coast people of Inca race were as industrious as their Chimu neighbors. In the Nasca valley there is a complete network of underground watercourses for irrigation. At Yca “they removed the sand from vast areas, until they reached the requisite moisture, then put in guano from the islands, and thus formed sunken gardens of extraordinary richness.”[1309] Similar methods were adopted in the valleys of Pisco and Chilca.
When the Inca Pachacutec began to annex the coast valleys, he met with slight opposition only from the people of Inca origin, who soon submitted to his rule. But the Chimus struggled hard to retain their independence. Those of the Huarcu (Cañete) valley made a desperate and prolonged resistance. When at length they submitted, the Inca built a fortress and palace on a rocky eminence overlooking the sea to overawe them. The ruins now called Hervai are particularly interesting, because they are the principal and most imposing example of Inca architecture in which the building material is adobes and not stone. The conquest of the valleys to the north of Lima and of the grand Chimu himself was a still more difficult undertaking, necessitating more than one hard-fought campaign. When it was completed, great numbers of the best fighting-men among the Chimus were deported to the interior as mitimaes. More than a century had elapsed since this conquest when the Spaniards arrived, so that there was but slight chance of the history of the Chimus being even partially preserved. Cieza de Leon and Balboa alone supply us with notices of any value.[1310] The southern valleys of the coast, Arequipa, Moquegua, and Tacna, were occupied by mitimaes or colonists from the Collao. The Incas gave the general name of yuncas, or dwellers in the warm valleys, to all the people of the coast.
Much mystery surrounds the history and origin of the Chimu people. That they were wholly separate and unconnected with the other races of Peru seems almost certain. That they were far advanced in civilization is clear. Difficulties surround any further prosecution of researches concerning them. They have themselves disappeared from the face of the earth. Their language has gone with them. But there are the magnificent ruins of their palaces and temples. There are numerous tombs and cemeteries which have never been scientifically examined. There is a grammar and a small vocabulary of words calling for close comparative examination. There are crania awaiting similar comparative study. There is a possibility that further information may be gleaned from inedited Spanish manuscripts. The subject is a most interesting one, and it is by no means exhausted.